Friday, April 14, 2006

'Good' Friday

Today is of course, Good Friday - the name that the church gave to the day, on which Jesus died. Is it not 'Bad Friday', because Jesus died on it? Thankfully no - it is indeed 'Good Friday', because Jesus' death wasn't pointless, it wasn't an accident unforeseen by God or by Jesus, it wasn't the triumph of 'sin, the world and the devil' against Jesus.

Even though the human and even demonic actors thought that they were triumphing, in that Jesus was arrested, tried, condemned, and killed, this is not the end of the story. When Jesus was buried in the grave, it was not the end. To quote Tony Campolo - 'It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming!' Because it is only through the death of Christ that we can have the resurrection, the promise of new life, and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus took our sins, our burdens, our debt, and made them his own (who knew no sin), and paid for them, taking the judgement, the penalty they deserved. He who had forever existed with the Father and the Spirit in the unity of the Trinity, was forsaken by the Father so that he might bring us back from our separation from God.

And so, 'Bad Friday' is actually Good Friday, because of what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. May you who read this know the certainty of sins forgiven by trusting in Jesus' blood, shed for us on the cross.

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